“Highway One” - Day 12

I didn’t quite tell the truth - I did have one item on the agenda that I really wanted to experience, which was Highway One, also known as Pacific Coastal Highway. An unimaginable long stretch of road on the coastline of California spanning over a 1000 kilometres. The insane thing is that it’s built right into the coastline - on one side a sheer drop off into the Pacific Ocean, on the other side a near impenetrable cliff wall. Whoever built this did not consider just going around.

We had set off in hopes to camp up north in Big Sur, at a campsite under the Sequoia trees.

We loaded the truck with the overnight gear and set off towards Highway One. Quickly, we replaced the city scenery with the rural setting, as we headed deeper north along the famous highway. Long rolling hills surrounded us and green pastures stretched as far as the eye could see. The road, in typical US fashion, was as straight as a needle cutting through the farmlands and wineries.

Two hours in, we stopped decided to grab a quick bite in San Luis Obispo, known locally as SLO, before continuing our trek. The town was anything but slow, as there were amazing restaurants to choose from. We ended up with a tri-tip bbq sandwich which I might have to rank as the best sandwich I’ve ever had.

A short drive later, we stopped along a pier in San Simeon for the opportunity to stretch the legs and take some pictures of the scenery. The pier was used to harbour the whaling ships in the 19th century, which was one of many whaling stations along the Californian coast. Whaling used to a large industry before the introduction of petroleum based solutions around the end of the century. In the early 20th century, the pier was used to offload materials from all around the world to facilitate the building of the “Hearst Castle”, a large manor built by the  publishing tycoon William Hearst. He’s the guy responsible for the existence of sensationalist news. Thanks Bill.

It was at that point that we had gotten a “Big Sur”-prise - our GPS was rerouting us away from the highway - via a three hour detour to our destination. Turns out, a few days prior there was a landslide which caused damage to the highway shutting it down for repairs.

Not wanting to extend our trip even longer, we decided to call it and not stay overnight, instead opting to soaking in the nature and atmosphere around us.

The good news about cutting the trip short was that we were able to do a little bar crawl the next day to sample the local breweries! When one door closes, another opens!

“The all-American Trifecta” - Day 11

Joking about being the wedding present for the bride and groom, I spent the next 4 and a bit days with them in Ventura

To understand how strange, or better yet, how unique this is - I need to tell you how the groom and I became acquainted.

In 2016 I visited Tokyo for the first time and as all good stories do, end up in a bar in a famous nightlife area called Golden Gai. The bar we ended up in was ultimately the bar where I met a bunch of travelers from the US, the groom, Adam, being one of them. Keeping in touch throughout the years via social media and him visiting me in Hong Kong a couple of times, it was only right to repay him a visit.

I did not do any homework about what Ventura or the surrounding areas had to offer, as I basically had one instruction: Do as the Romans do (i.e. do as the locals do).

In the morning, Adam and I headed into town for breakfast.

During Covid, the restaurants were barred from serving guests inside the premises, so many of the restaurants had build temporary outside seating areas (I know right?). These often encroached into the roads - forcing the town to shut down the “city-center”, inadvertently creating a car-free zone. Whilst the rules for eater have long been lifted, the outside seating remained and roads closed, creating a nice Piazza to walk through.

On the drive back, we passed a few buildings straight out of a pulp fiction-esque movie, which I was was told. was the local Bowling alley, adjacent to the Mini Golf center and roller blading rink. The local thing to do is go drinking and do all three activities, one-after-another. The “Trifecta”.

Discussing the merits of a well balanced meal before a workout

Long story short - we attempted the trifecta ourselves.

I won the minigolf round, Adam beat me at bowling 2-1.

Unfortunately, the skating rink was closed on this specific day, so it was more like a Difecta.

Trying not to sink our heads in dissapointment, we decided to head to Santa Barbara to sample the local bars and restaurants.

The first bar we entered was a Christmas pop-up bar. Kitsch as far as the eyes can see, with thematically decorated walls, tables and drinks. We also got in at the right time, as soon later the Christmas drag queen karaoke evening began, which brought the whole bar to a roar. I say right timing, because as we left we passed a long queue of people trying to get in!

Drinks drunk, we decided that sustenance was needed to continue the evening fruitfully. Santa Barbara is a quiet chic town with a lot of restaurants and fashion stores and, what’s that over there? An Axe club? Oh…OH AXE THROWING!

Turns out, in America you are free to do whatever you want, as long as you sign a waiver to absolve the store of any wrongdoing. So three tipsy soon-to-be tomahawk professionals decided to try their hand at throwing pointy instruments.

It. Was. A. Lot. Of. Fun.

Unfortunately, by the time we had finished playing cowboys and Indians, all the restaurants were about to close.

Oh well - at least we had achieved our new version of the MBA Trifecta - Minigolf, Bowling, Axes

“Weddings and Tolkien” - Day 8 - 10

Hi everyone, it’s been a while since my last update! A lot of late nights and early mornings have kept me from updating you all, but alas, I am back! I had most of this entry written already, but due to connection issue lost the first draft, which is annoying, but such is life. I will be recapping the days into one mega post because I need to keep y’all updated!

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Day 8 - “The day of the Wedding”

Today was the day of the wedding. It was due to start at 3pm, which meant I still had the whole morning to saunter through the old town of Antigua. Equipped with my subpar Duolingo Spanish and a growling stomach, I set off to find a place to serve me breakfast.

The first day in Antigua, we found a trendy coffee shop to sample the local drink, but after browsing the menu, I noticed that I had no clue what exactly I was reading about. Not to impact the growing line waiting impatiently behind me, I settled on something that sounded vaguely familiar, but could not place exactly was familiar about it. Was it a type of bean? Brewing process? Single origin? Whatever, it was morning and I ordered a coffee.

To my surprise I was served two scoops of vanilla ice cream and an espresso shot. Not really the morning coffee I was expecting. In my mind, I thought to have believed I had ordered the current trending coffee, which is a coffee brewed fresh over a bar of chocolate to create a fancy coffee mocha. It’s all the rave on social media at the moment, but this was far from it. Turns out, an Affogato is just a hipster excuse to have ice cream and a coffee whilst sounding sophisticated. Hm.

Not wanting to let the past experience influence my future, I set off to find a new restaurant to serve me a hearty Guatemalan breakfast.

It wasn’t long until I found a coffee shop which looked promising. A quick glance at the menu did in fact confirm that I still couldn’t comprehend Spanish and the menu definitely wasn’t in English. After stalling the waiter by ordering a Cafe Latte (thank god he didn’t ask what kind of milk I would like to have), I chose something that looked promising. It contained huevo - eggs, good… and something Brioche? A bun? Definitely the bread type. Ok. Bread and eggs, maybe some kind of savory sandwich. Just what I was looking for.

After sitting down on a vacant seat and enjoying a few sips of my coffee my “dish” arrived. My savory brioche egg sandwich was not savory at all.

Turns out, I ordered a. French toast. A. FRENCH. TOAST. IN. GUATEMALA. No wonder the waiter looked at me with a crooked eyebrow when reading the order back to me. I just thought he was surprised that a Gringo orders such a hearty Guatemalan breakfast, but turns out we were just sharing the surprise.

I am currently 2/2 for choosing desserts for breakfast. Great.

After needing to add an extra 7000 steps to offset the caloric intake of my mistake, I set off to zig-zag through the town before heading back to freshen up for the wedding.

Donning my best James Bond suit and thirst for (Espresso) Martini’s, I head off towards the venue, which was a few minutes walk from my hotel. In an unfortunate set of events, Mr. Murphy and his infamous law decided to make an entrance and part the heavens by blessing us with the lightest of showers.

As the guests slowly started to arrive, it was clear that the outdoor venue needed to dry off before the ceremony started. Without much deliberation, we collectively decided to wait out the time in the adjacent hotel bar.

The poor soul behind the bar must have gotten the shock of his life as a wall of thirsty travelers descended upon his workspace and by the time we were finished, he had called for 5 more people for backup.

An hour later, the ceremony commenced. It was a nice an intimate ceremony, full of laughs, initial stages of nervousness and tears of happiness. Then… the buffet was opened, the drinks flowed and the dance floor was ceremoniously inaugurated.

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Day 8 - “We’re taking the Hobbits to… Antigua?”

The next and final day in Guatemala, we decided to saunter outside of the high-walled Antigua and explore the surrounding areas. The best way we decided, was to rent a tourguide and some four-wheeled ATV’s. Donning our helmets we headed on the cobbled stone roads towards the hills.

Trivia: What does Antigua and New Zealand have in common?

Is it the luscious vegetation? The rolling green hills surrounding the valley?

What if I told you that they both have a…hobbit shire. Que?

Yes, you read that right. Guatemala has a village based on the J.R.R. Tolkien books.

Some years ago, someone decided to build a little hobbit house in the mountains, overlooking the valley. Over many years, more parts got added to it to become it’s own little shire. Now equipped with a restaurant, bar and other attractions such as rope swings and minigolf. Just as it was written by J.R.R. Tolkien all those years ago.

The scenery was absolutely stunning, as the whole village was overlooking a beautiful valley donned by coffee plantations. We also arrive at the perfect time, as the sun bathed the scenery into a lovely light, before the mist took over.

The whole area is surrounded by trees and it never once felt like this area was created as a tourist trap. Everything was lovingly made and fit perfectly into the scenery. It was if one was transported into the books. Ok, maybe the guy hired to play Gandalf that stood around on top of a building waving at people all day was a bit cheesy, but otherwise it was pristine.

The Hobbit shire, or as they call it Hobbitenago has become something of a local tourist attraction, as many locals visit the mountain to spend a few hours enjoying the walks, food and the kids activities, such as archery and the aforementioned minigolf.

Once the rolling mist engulfed the village and the temperatures dropped, we decided that the best course of action was to sample the local artisanal hot chocolate. And boy, was it good! Especially with the view!

On the way back, we grabbed some dinner at a local restaurant, still situated in the mountains. The view overlooked a neighboring city and the local active volcano named “Fuego”. Occasionally we could see the lava eruptions whilst we were eating our meals.

We finished our tour, parked our ATV and decided to head to a bar to have a proper send off, as it was sadly our last day in Antigua.

Our flight was scheduled for 8:30 in the morning, which meant our organized shuttle service would pick us up at 4am at the hotel. Since I don’t do short naps without risking missing an alarm clock and thereby jeopardizing my exit of the country, I had the brilliant idea to just stay awake. With the help of the local bar scene of course.

We tasted the local beers, got to know the owner of said speakeasy from the first night and sampled the exquisite selection of Guatemalan rum and other local liquid delicacies. From an adaptation from an old fashioned with Antiguan chocolate, to other drinks, we sampled our way through the country and history.

We were encouraged to try the only Guatemalan cocktail submitted to a cocktail championship (or so I remember, my mind is a bit hazy at this point), which used ingredients such as powdered sunflower seeds and an array of other local(?) liquors.

The cocktail was named Kame, and it was seriously the best cocktail I have ever had to date. So I had two.

I have included the recipe below if anyone is ever interested to recreate cocktail, if you are able to procure the ingredients :)

As the bars shut down at midnight, I made it back home to the hotel. I had only three and a half hours to go. My bags were already packed, with only the basic necessities needing to be stowed before leaving, so I had ample time to kill.

I decided to lie in bed and flip through the TV channels and landed on a Spanish dubbed version of Scooby Doo.

Then…

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Day #%#% - “Hasta Luego Guatemala”

…I woke up from the sound of Dora the Explorer shouting something on TV. I must have dozed off, which was strange.

As I went to the bathroom I checked my watch. It was still set to LA time, so it read 2:09am. A cursory glance at the mirror as my brain tried to remember to add 2 hours to the clock to get GUA time…OHSHIT.

Checking my phone, I had a few missed calls from my buddy sharing the ride to the airport wondering where I was. Of course modern phones have do not disturb sleep functions, so straight to voicemail they went.

After a hasty “Be right there!” reply, I threw all the remaining items into my bags and departed.

Sleep deprived, I made it to the airport. Sleep deprived, I made it through check-in, immigration and eventually on the flight.

Sleep deprived I arrived in LAX, where I went to collect my bags and headed to my friends place in Hollywood where I had the rest of my luggage stashed.

I was functioning on maybe 4 hours of cumulative sleep, so I really didn’t do anything on this day. No pictures, just pain.

I did however met up with the bride and groom at midnight as they collected me to take me to their place in Ventura.

Fun times ahead. And sleep recovery.

“Bienvenido a Guatemala” - Day 6 & 7

I don’t think I would have ever considered coming to Guatemala for a holiday. Even after 28 years, this trip marks the first time I cross into the Americas - North and South - and I still can’t believe I’m writing this update from the beautiful courtyard of my hotel.

We landed in Guatemala 2 days ago, after a uncomfortable four and a half hours on a plane made exclusively for short people. Within 20 minutes, we were cleared into the country and found our driving compadre who would take us an hour away to a place called Antigua Guatemala, south-west of Guatemala City.

Antigua is a historic city, comprised of a grid system of cobbled roads with colorful houses flanking each side. It definitely makes it easier to navigate as a tourist without a lick of Spanish knowledge as you’re always four left turns away from a full circle.

Waking up nice and early, I decided to walk towards the Plaza Major, to see if I can grab a bite to eat for breakfast.

Every few blocks, I was greeted by an old abandoned heritage site, mostly cathedrals that have stood there for centuries - a remnant of the Spanish colonial times.

Spanish colonial history wasn’t the only cultural sight of significance, as a few blocks down I was greeted by the local public transport system:

Pretty much all of the public buses are old US school buses or a blinged out version of ones. Definitely an interesting sight to behold as they pass by you picking up passengers on street corners.

Once I was in view of the Plaza Major, I heard the distinct cheer of a crowd, strange, as it was only 8am.

Upon further inspection, I found the source of the noise - a public viewing area for the football World Cup, complete with surrounding fan entertainment. Football definitely brings everyone together.

The plaza itself was a beautiful open garden, with benches shaded by a nice array of trees. At night, each tree is individually lit, giving itself a very christmas-y feeling. Old colonial arched terraces flanked the plaza with an old cathedral being the centre point.

Pushing on, I found a bustling market selling everything - from knock-off electronics, to fruits and veg and anything in between. Not at any point was I surrounded by peddlers wanting to offload their wares - they didn’t take too much notice at the tourists apart from the occasional “Hola, take a look at my shop”. A stark difference to other street markets I’ve been to in the past.

Next to the street market was an artisanal market, selling everything from handwoven blankets, to intricate jade necklaces and everything in between. The predominant popularity of the colour purple, yellow and blue made every store seem like an LSD trip as the brain was so overloaded with colour that you couldn’t even distinguish what they were selling.

At the end of the market, I was greeted by another school bus full of locals, which turned out was also the local bus terminus.

Rows of buses to god knows where lines the lot with bus drivers shouting out what I can only imagine were the routes?

Walking back towards the Plaza (and towards the area I was most familiar with now), I came across an Irish bar. Of course there’s an Irish bar here. Next to Christian missionaries, the most travelled European export the world has ever seen.

The sign outside of the bar caught my eye - “Showing Football - SUI vs. SRB 1PM” It was 1:04pm.

Darting in to catch the game, I did a double take, as I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing - Swiss shirts in a bar in Antigua. Neat - turns out there’s a large contingent of Swiss living in Guatemala.

After a well deserved victory and a lot of local beer I returned back to the hotel to freshen up for the evening.

The sole reason why I even travelled to Guatemala in the first place was that a friend was getting married here. Today was the first day we would all meet up in three years since we last met in Hong Kong.

The whole wedding congregation swarmed a rooftop bar for a whole lot of dinner and drinks for a celebration before the big day tomorrow.

Hehehe “cock” beer.

Definitely not a food photographer - but these were excellent fish tacos!

We finished the evening in a speakeasy, hidden behind an old English telephone booth. I got to experience my first ever Guatemalan rum and it blew me away.

Eventually, as the night grew to a close, we all decided to depart and head our separate ways. Was a good way to end the first proper day in Antigua!

“The Hollywood Hike” - Day 5

On my final day in the Hollywood area, we decided to head up to Griffith observatory.

Known to me only through the media and video games, it gave me the opportunity to experience the scenic vistas that LA also had to offer. And what a view it showed me.

I was very thankful that the weather was cool, as I had misunderstood going on the “Hollywood Hike” as some kind of alliteration for a short walk around the glitzy houses in Hollywood. So of course I walked up the hills in jeans and jacket.

But the views the “hike” had provided were absolutely stunning.

For an arid place like Los Angeles, there sure was a lot of green foliage hugging the mountainside. The rolling hills really contrasted stark with the city’s grid system further down the Valley. It also very nice to hear wildlife frolicking about. Crows surfing the updraft whilst squirrels scampered along the trees.

The hike itself was a loop that started at the Griffith Park sign which lead all the way up the hill crest and back down to the Griffith observatory. For the most part, you could always see the observatory in the distance, which was a nice indicator of how long one still had to climb up the hills. I don’t remember how long we walked, but it couldn’t have been more than an hour to get to the peak - so it was definitely worth every step for the views.

The closer we got to the viewing platform on top of the hill overlooking the area, we also got to see another Hollywood highlight: The Hollywood sign!

It’s funny how it’s always portrayed so close to town and so important to the industry, but in reality it’s a sign, on a hill, near a lot of expensive houses, far from the strip and boardwalk.

On the way down, we stopped at the Griffith observatory to take in the views on more time before leaving and regrouping for dinner. I implore everyone who visits LA to do this walk as well!

“House of the Mouse” - Day 4

There is nothing more resonating with children than a trip to Disneyland. Growing up in the era of the resurgence of Disney television and straight-to-VHS movie releases, it’s one facet that has remained constant throughout my childhood through to present day. Having been to the Disneyland in Paris in 1998, it is still one the fondest memories I cherish.

Today, we were those children giddy to wait in line. Except - we’re responsible adults and bought every fastpast and skip-line option the park offered. Responsible. And the Mouse thanked us for our gracious spending.

We set off on the highway towards Mexico, taking the Disneyland exit near Anaheim and were greeted by a multi-story parking lot the size of a small country. Reading up on the park, post-covid they average around 51’000 visitors PER. DAY.

I knew America like to supersize everything, but this was ridiculous!

After we had parked and memorized where in the maze of metal we had disembarked, we headed towards the entrance.

Edging closer towards the gates, we noticed that we needed to go through a security screening. It was friendly, but more thorough than any airport screening I’ve been through. Sniffer dogs, looking into every bag, zipper, pouch one had on them and then through a metal detector. No fun activity starts without a thorough search it seems.

Once cleared and were passable by Mickeys standards, we boarded a tram towards the main gate.

The size of the park blew me away.

Not only the scale of the venue, but also the amounts of people visiting. It felt like we were going up against Tsim Sha Tsui Rushhour traffic!

Designated Stroller parking. One of many throughout the park.

The biggest attractions seemed to be avoiding baby strollers and mobility scooters, which zipped and darted without any care in the world through the park.

Since the park itself was so large, the amount of people there didn’t really detract from the experience of wandering through beautifully crafted Disney IP sceneries. Of course the Wild West theme of Frontierland bordered Star Wars land. That’s exactly how American history teaches it in school!

Since Disney’s M&A spree under the CEO Bob Iger in the the 2010’s Disney expanded their reach from nostalgia inducing Walt Disney characters and rides to include more adult-centric themed areas, such as Lucasfilms’ Star Wars and Marvel’s, well Marvelverse list of characters and spin-offs.

Just before Covid shut down the world for two years, Disney opened their flagship ride “Rise of the Resistance” - a Star Wars themed ride to the public.

And holy shit, the scale of these rides blew everything away.

Lights, lasers, sound, visual effects and narrative storytelling - these rides were expertly designed to transport you into whatever theme for the two minutes of the average ride duration. You felt like you were actually in the movie.

Which brings me to the topic of visitor engagement, something that Disney has mastered throughout the many years they have operated.

In my previous times going to theme parks, an amusement park ride was just that. A ride. Have a loop-de-loop roller coaster? Call it “The dragon” slap some artsy paint and design on it and presto, you have your themed ride.

Disney jacks everything up to 11. From the employees - renamed to cast members by Disney - wearing appropriately themed outfits, to the waiting lines for the rides.

Most of the rides we weren’t able to skip queues averaged about a 30 minute to an hour wait time. What Disney do to not break the immersion is to have the queue split. Have a queue, then some form of visitor engagement, be it through engagement by the cast members playing a role, or by having some of the rides come with storytelling done by CG characters before you join another queue. Disney did not fail to break the immersion by waiting in a queue.

The Star Wars ride was just that - the pictures above were part of the queue whilst we were pushed into the narrative story of being rebels getting captured by the Imperial Forces. Insane!

We spent a couple of hours bumbling through the attractions, keeping track of which rides had the shortest wait-times and planning our own little cross country route to them.

Of course, I also needed to check out the Matterhorn Bobsled as is seemingly tradition. My amazement was kept in check by excessive yoddeling and the most atrocious attempt at a german / Swiss english hybrid announcer.

The Yeti was a nice touch, as we definitely like to keep our Yeti’s on the Matterhorn.

I won’t go into every ride and every detail of each area, as that would bore you to bits, but I can say the allure of theme parks still holds strong.

Disney still captures the “magic” of childhood, and they do a fantastic job of being able to escape reality for a few hours.

For me, now posing as an adult, my wonderment changed from the Disney “magic” of the rides to how did the engineers achieve this effect - which made analysis every ride even more fun. We had some great time trying to figure out how the effects were made.

I’ll post some more pictures below.

“Finally Joshua Tree” - Day 3

What a day!

Whilst my buddy stayed behind in the morning to catch up on some work emails - I set out to find a quick bite for breakfast on Sunset Boulevard.

Walking through the streets, I get more an more enamored by the architecture and the lack of cohesion between the individual lots on which buildings stand on. Next to a baroque dwelling of nondescript origin stands a saloon straight out of a spaghetti western. Probably pure terror for anyone with OCD tendencies.

Sometimes I think I should start a series called: “Pictures that look like Albumcovers”

After my first proper American breakfast burrito and a coffee (and a morning cocktail, don’t judge, I’m on holiday). I head back to return to unfinished business - Stuffing the car full of the camera gear we neglected to use yesterday. An hour or two later, we set off towards Joshua Tree.

I opted to drive first, as my buddy was still working and needed more time, and who am I kidding, I get to drive in the US! Many firsts for me there!

Setting off through LA city to get to the highways, I get a quick crash course driving in the US, from right hand turns on red, steering into oncoming traffic on lefts and acquainting myself with the notion that stop signs in California are merely a suggestion. Hello “California Roll”.

Making our way through Pasadena and further away from Hollywood, we eventually hit the highway and the infamous LA rush hour traffic commenced. As a seasoned veteran of Hong Kong rush hours, I found myself immediately in my element of bumper to bumper traffic. By the way, that 2h47m drive time indicated in the picture above is from today - our estimated travel time yesterday was more or less in the three hour thirties.)

It’s like a fast food safari park

After about two hours of bumbling straight down the highway, we decided to take our chances of finding a quick bite to revitalize our senses again. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to search for long. Immediately after pulling off a highway we were in, we found what I can only describe as rest-stop heaven - surrounded by the finest stomach-testing fast food joints the eye can see.

And to my utter excitement there was also a drive-thru. I felt like I have just entered a 1950’s comic book, full of muscle cars, milkshakes and enough hair pomade to become a fire hazard. Absolutely surreal.

A scene straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie

After leaving the 50’s behind and rejoining the current traffic-ridden decade, we resumed our drive towards the desert. Unfortunately by this time, the sun was already beginning to set and darkness would soon envelop the scenery. After a quick discussion, we decided that we weren’t to blame for our late departure, it was in fact daylight savings time that was to blame for early onset of night. Shame on it.

Eeeeventually, we made it to Joshua Tree.

Originally we set our location to the infamous Invisible House, an Instagram / Tik Tok ridden hotspot of a property in the middle of the desert made of two way mirrors - reflecting everything on the outside to give the illusion that, well it’s invisible.

What we expected to see:

What we saw:

Great.

So we set off to scout out a new location for at least some pleasant photos of Joshua trees in the national park.

After another hour or so of driving up and down pitch black winding roads, we eventually ended up in a clearing with enough discernible features that would offer at least some interesting framing for a photo shoot.

As we exited the vehicle, we were instantly reminded that us Hong Kong boys have the survival instinct of a pet rock.

The wind was howling past us, dropping the temperature to a close 0 degrees centigrade. Back in Hollywood, we were contemplating on how much warm gear we should bring - playing with the notion of, “ah, it shouldn’t be too cold”. Yes. Not too cold if you don’t account the windchill factor… (we did eventually bring cold weather gear, as we didn’t have any space limitations. Lucky us!)

Shooting in this location was an absolute dream and produced some stunning pictures.

I will share more pictures of this trip in the future, we took most of the pictures with my Buddy’s camera.

Standing around in the pitch black darkness, eyes slowly adjusting to the surroundings, you can start making out shapes and rough terrain in the distance. The starry sky was incredible, being able to discern the different constellations clearly whilst the slow blinking of aircrafts traced through the periphery. It was tranquil. We were the only people here in many miles. WE WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE HERE IN MANY MILES.

Oh no, brain going into slasher film/ horror movie mode. What’s that noise? Did that bush just move?

I jest, but that thought did cross my mind whilst we were snapping shots. We were in the perfect horror movie scenario. Replace the two blond chicks with two guys from Hong Kong and the script writes itself.

I digress. Naturally, growing up watching Bear Grills and Steve Irwin, we did check the surrounding areas for signs of wildlife. Mainly checking the arid ground for rattlesnakes.

Occasionally, I’d do my cursory sweeps of the area with the torch to see if I can see any reflections of eyes. Which did happen, we stared, it stared, we took one more picture, heard a noise and yeeted ourselves back into the car.

Next location, pronto.

Deciding that a car park is as good as a clearing in Joshua Tree National Park, we set up our second location about a 20 minute drive from the four-legged voyeur we encountered before.

We spent around an hour at this location, this time undisturbed by the local population when we decided to call it a day and head back to Los Angeles.

I took the wheel for a second time, as my chief navigator assisted us in finding the right route. I was still hyped from driving to the location, so naturally I wanted to experience the return leg as well. I believe in an alternate life, I would have made a great intercontinental truck driver as I absolutely enjoy driving!

We arrived home just after midnight and looking at the trip computer, we drove just over 300 miles in a day. Talk about maximizing the holidays!

“Not Joshua Tree” - Day 2

The pitch: Drive to the desert with the intent to do night photography and stay and overnight in an AirBnB

The preparation: Pack enough camera equipment to scare the local population into believing you’re starting a feature film production.

The execution: End up exactly where I was sitting writing the last update without seeing a single grain of sand.

Running late, as customary for bigger road trips, we hopped into the car after stowing all the gear we had packed for the trip away.

The night before, we agreed to rendezvous briefly at an old school friend house to watch the Germany vs. Spain World Cup football game before continuing our journey to the final destination in Joshua Tree.

Showing up three quarters into the full game, I was offered a beer, which was of course gratefully accepted.

As the great Benji Franklin and his band of merry men once proposed - “E Pluribus Unum”, or “Out of many, one”, I similarly had an adage of my own between my beer and me - “E Unum Pluribus” - One out of many.

One thing led to another and we spent the next couple of hours enjoying the cooler weather on the patio, drinking Brewskis and having conversations about the old and the new, nothing and everything. It was just great spending time with great people.

As time passed, and the shadows cast grew longer and longer, we had to admit defeat that our original plan of visiting dunes would not be realistic anymore.

So as one does - we compromised, drove back towards the Hollywood Hills, took a blurry photo of city lights and called it an early day.

The sands will have to wait for another time.

“Is this decaf?” - Day 1

Where do I start?

First day in Los Angeles and I got to experience the whole spectrum of what makes LA, LA.

If you ever go into a coffee shops and the you order two “Warhols” or a “Defund the Military” you know you’ve arrived in Los Angeles. Coffee with a hipster twist!

Our agenda today started in Beverly Hills. Of course it did.

As one does, we spent the morning brunching like the basic bitches we are and ended up going for a digestive stroll through Rodeo Drive, cameras in hand.

Rodeo Drive looked exactly how I remember it playing through the level in Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland at the age of 11...just more HD. The tree stood exactly on the spot where I used to Natas Spin on the bollards in the game. Video game arts meets reality 2.0.

The crowds were manageable as well - we were still at the tail end of the Thanksgiving weekend, which meant that most people were out of town.

After we decided we were done walking through a glamourized on-street high-end shopping district we decided to head to the next touristy area:

Venice Beach -

Infamous for it’s long straights, panhandlers and rollerbladers.

It took us some time to head there from Beverly Hills, another ode to how massive Los Angeles and in extension, California is. Oh how wonderful size is to a Hong Kong city boy.

Once we arrived, it felt nostalgic?

Walking down the main street, I could not shake the strange familiarity. Years of media, internet exposure and television have created this false memory that this place wasn’t in fact new to me, but rather a place I’ve been before.

It’s a strange feeling a sense of familiarity walking through a place that you’ve only known through media online. It’s strange that you don’t remember, but just know where things are.

Walking further down, we hit an area full of skateboarders. Oh wait, that’s where the infamous bowl is. Knew it!

These guys definitely know how to shred the bowls. Wish I gave it more practice in my teens - they definitely looked that they were enjoying themselves.

In the evening we had made plans to visit an Escape Room with a group of friends old and new. A mini reunion was in store, so why not celebrate this by going to an Escape Room. Easy, I thought, it can’t be that difficult. I’ve just binged through all 4 seasons of Sherlock in the past week. I should be able to notice anything amiss.
Eh… Hindsight is 20/20

We didn’t do well. Oh… we sucked. We managed about 60% of the room in our allocated time frame. We were outsmarted big time. Dejected, we left after 75 minutes, not knowing what exactly went wrong.

To recover from our loss, we enjoyed a nice dinner in a rather interesting named restaurant: Mother Tongue. Food was fantastic, the cocktails superb (sorry everyone who attended with their own cars, you missed out! I drank for all y’all!)

To cap off the night, we ended up on Hollywood Boulevard in a Star-Wars themed bar which replicated the Cantina Bar in Mos Eisley from Episode IV. Perfect way to end the night.

PS: Shoutout to the Man that gave voice to the most famous rabbit in television!

“Welcome to America” - Day 0.5

12 hours of flight later and I land in LAX.

Hearing the horror stories of the barrage of questions one is asked by border security before entry into the USA made me mentally prepare to spill my whole life story. Part of my brain was already contemplating what life would be like in Guantanamo Bay, where I’d surely end up in, if I retort an unsatisfactory answer to the border agent…

The voice of a bored security agent echoed through the hallway: “Use the red channel if you’re a visitor, US the Blue channel if you have a green card…”, a sentence she must have repeated a hundred times an hour at inquisitive arrivals.

I stood around the queue quite bemused - I couldn’t make out where or what exactly the blue or red channels were, as both sides were pointing to the same queue. A glance at the colour of the stanchion bands also did not indicate which channel was which, as they were both a mixture red, green and blue. I eventually ended up in the right queue.

The immigration control itself was a piece of cake. A little bit of smalltalk and that was it. Definitely had found a chill guy working.

Picked up from the airport by an old school friend, we headed home for a quick refresher before heading to Venice to meet up with some friends for some drinks.

A lot of driving later and we arrive at a pretty nice outdoor spot and I must say, I’m definitely enjoying the cool, dry air of California.

After a few drinks and on the way out, it was mandatory to visit the strategically placed food truck just outside the venue. And boy did it not dissapoint!

Now, sitting here at 3:13am and writing this post, jet lagged and nursing another beer, I can’t wait to see what the next weeks hold in store!

Preamble: "Pack your bags, you're going on an adventure"

Brian, any chance you could make a December 3rd wedding this year in Antigua Guatemala? It’s mine. Would love to have you but totally understand if you can’t make it.

Bleary-eyed, I re-read the message in the comforts of my bed in Hong Kong. Guatemala and wedding where the only two words I registered before replying.

“I will do anything in my power to be there! That plan sounds crazy it just might work!”

Having only recently returned from a trip overseas after the travel-drought caused by the pandemic, I had already caught the wanderlust for the next holiday abroad. That, and the accumulated annual leave days I hadn’t taken made it easy to agree to travel to an exotic destination in a country I would have never clocked as a holiday destination.

I had a time and a date - now to make a trip out of it. Wait, how do you even get to Guatemala?

A quick cursory glance at the flight website of choice confirmed my suspicion. Most flights would be through the United States. Cool.

I have never been to the Americas, so why not grab that opportunity to visit friends…let’s see…Californa and… in New York. Neat.

A mental travel path was starting to form in my head.

Why not spend Christmas with the family in Europe?

That’s destination number 3.

In the end, the destinations were set and the flights booked:

• 1 month

• 3 continents

• 4 countries

• 5 destinations

• 8 flights

Now that’s a trip.

Date of departure: 26th November.

Stay tuned!

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Personal Note:

This post is the start of something I have never done before - Maintaining a personalized photography blog.

My plan is to keep a daily log during my trip through the lens and to capture my immediate thoughts and ideas in word.

Whilst nothing groundbreaking, it’s something I have had an interest in, in a long time.

We live in a world of disposable media - Our individual memories competing on a platform with the world, eventually being pushed into forgottenness by algorithms.